JOUENAL OF HOBTICTJLTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDEKEB. 



[ Aplil 11, 18V2- 



Doubtless aU the douUe Tarieties are °^"^}'ftf,''^^'i^^^ 

 the proportion that do come double are so ^^^^fj 'one Ts 

 the pains of the hybridiser are rewarded by a good on^ as 

 heXle amilyhas of late become more fasMonable, it is ^ 



Swlrtonhardone mi cii to improve this family and some 

 o Ms «1e^in"s have a greater amount of blue m their colour- 

 ^n-' than I have met with elsewhere ; but he has ^rked most 

 with the Polvanthus, and sometimes has introduced the Oxhp, 

 or Hose-iuXe varieties as they are called, into his mixture, 

 whShL^weU worth a place. One that I have of the common 

 pa^e yellow colom- is by no means an unimportant addition 



'°TwVrtoee years ago, having a good stock of the gi-een- 

 hoirspecies, Primula denticulata, I planted a a^„^"^^ty out 

 some of which withstood the severe winter of 18,0-/1, but 

 have not done much good. I have, however, more hopes in 

 the more deciduous one that forms Buch a nsefu ad^Uon to 

 conservatory display, P. cortusoides amrena.- This I have no 

 aonbt^il be hLy'and do well o-V'°'''^ltt'I: noss'bleX 

 plentiful enough to be used extensively ; and it is possible tlie 

 newer Japan species will be still more eihcient. 



I will only make a hasty summmg-up by advising all wbo 

 have the m^ns of growing a large quantity of the popidar 

 hardv varieties of Primroses to try the single ones and if the 

 SOU and situation suit them, not to let them stand more than 

 two years L one place, but after that time take them up and 

 livid'e them. The double ones not gi-owmg so fast ^7f^^ 

 longer ; and if a stock has to be prepai-ed for fillmg tl^e flower- 

 beds w th in autumn, a rather shady and moist place is best^ 

 If a good batch could be put into such a position, say, m 

 FebruaiT very fine plants may be expected the fo lowing No- 

 vember and if the single white be the kmd operat«l upon, it 

 [svei^ likely more than°one-half of the plants will.be m flower 

 atS tS.1 Such, at least, has been the case with those we 

 have grown here. — J. Kobson. 



KEEPING GEAPES. 



At the last meeting of the Fruit Committee of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society a contrivance was shown by iMJ. Uoaas, 

 Wene, at Bower Ashton, near Bristol, for keepmg Grapes m 

 water after behig cut from the Vine. The sunphcity of the 

 process wUl commend itself ■*' 



tain. They wiU last for many years.— W. Dodds. 



to everyone, and the mode 

 of applying it willbe gathered 

 from the accompanying de- 

 scription. " There have 

 been of late various methods 

 recommended as to the best 

 plan of keeping Grapes de- 

 tached from the Vines. I 

 have tried only two systems. 

 The first was a nice room 

 over our fruit room, where 

 I could at pleasure darken 

 the room entirely or partially 

 so ; ventilation was also per- 

 fect. The result was by no 

 means satisfactory. My se- 

 cond plan was to cut the 

 Grapes, place them in bot- 

 tles and hang them up to 

 the wires in our late \inerry 

 at one end where no plants 

 were kept, the other part of 

 the house being full of plants. 

 I have had them perfect in 

 colour, excellent in flavour, 

 the stems quite gi-eeu, and 



many of the bunches as per- T, ^, . , 



feet as they were when cut from the Vme— all this for over 

 three months. . . , 



" This day I have foi-warded yon a specimen of the very simple 

 thing I u5e instead of bottles ; it is veiy inexpensive and port- 

 able If you wish to take Grapes into another house, it is soon 

 done. My experience convinces me that dark rooms are not 



VEGETABLE AND FKTJIT GEOWING. 

 The following mteresting paper on this subject was read by 

 Mr. Scott at the meeting of the Farmers' Club, on the ist 



'"?H.Tubject we have for consideration to-^ght,r^ Mr_. 



Scott, is one of more I'^jtfd^'^t^ f ' *^^j? i, oTp-owing im- 

 cussed by the members of this Club, jj^ '1 fit for market gar- 

 portance to the ownei-s and ""^^^P'^'^" "^J^^Vc^use they must, 

 fiening within reach of P°P'^°f^ ^.^f ^.S^^of ?he heaXr and 

 always possess some ad/a^'tagein the sale ot W| . ,^j^i^^ 



XnTi^rs^ut L^"ottlSsTe'nI« ^ 



and from others. Thus we have m January^ ^^ij^^-^^j^^^. ^nd 

 Cauliflowers and Potatoes from CoiT?l;'^HoUand^Bel . 



France, and even from Portugal ana^Pa?°' 8^°^ tmnipike 

 air, and rivalUng our l^ottouse pro^^ucUons ^ fien ^^^ ^P 



roads were the only means of ^°'^y,^X fuoply °* vegetables, 

 towns had a species of monopoly m the supply oig^^.^^_ 

 and much ordinai-y land was forced into ?aark^t «Mae ^^^ 



tion ; but now it is soil and '^'^l^'Pf « *^*Xnt oTthe mlrket- 

 Bome of these grounds must ^^ ^.'J.^PPf'^-^' °ges and rents, 

 garden category, and revert to °i^"f7„!?"?o"^ef as many 

 Sthei-wisethe peiwerse cultivators wiU ^^^1%^%'^^, prices 



did last year to my own l™°.^lf ''8?'^''^„°xeept APPl<=» and 

 obtained for ahnost everything giown, except pp^^^^^^ 



Asparagus, were merely '^"""f'tl soil iSective of locaUty,, 

 to success to secm-e a '^°°f,t^f_,^°^t 'a"y?an hope to obtain 



-A7ew^^aS^afo-a"^g1i^mt|f3.om 



I am aca-int<Hl, who^^^^^^^^ , ..^p aVivial 



miles off, and possesses "^"^e ri ^ comers m the 



BoU, not only competes succesi^uUymtn ^^^ 



London markets, ^U^^^tl thi mldCd eoimties and northern 

 I competing successfully ^'^, J'^^^T"' o^^^ as Glasgow, to which 

 growers in their own ™arl^ets, as far nortu as u a fe^ ^ ^^^_ 



S^ofthVn«be=itoS Ag.. m^^^^^^ 

 around Boston, Spalding, and m other ^i^^'^-j^ ^re near 

 market gardens are ^Prrngmg up, not because y^^^^^ ^^^ 



&tSiraSs:LXL^K«e^^a^^^^^ ti-uit and 

 ^^Stlto -farther a-field, we ^^d th-tJer^se^WMess sand- 

 banks on the Cheshire ''''"/e °PP°|4%re/n ^„nd siiitable for 

 ilSto £20 an acre, l^fcause Ihey have M^n i ^^^ 



the production of ^ayly ?» a^"' ^ w^^^J^g ^^^tef! to induce 

 Potato sets are kept ™ ^arm places ciurin , ^^^ 



them to shoot, and m the months »* ^arcn ^^a i ^^^^^^ 



planted, generally m large ,^eds, w^ manuiea ^^^^^^^_ 



lightly with soil by*e spade, and withnttero^^^^^^^^^^^ 

 TLy ire thus covered and uncovered daily untLl^ate ^^^^ 



and so watchful are the.growers--who are a distme, a ^ 

 class-that if dmnng this t^^ « <langerons^fros^ tnre ,^ ^^ 



are said to take the blankets "« t^"\.f ^X^^eU at 2». ed. per 



--tiS^S:^KS/?^^^cS^ must scythe 



^"S^^^iHSis^?^^Sstiii 



as the basis of successful «s^ts ovei aitmcia ^ ^^^^ 



case of Mr. Wm Thomson sfn-eat Tweed lae ^^y^^ 



